Funding approved for Gloucester special needs school

The school will be built in Abbeydale, Gloucester

A £16.5m school for pupils with special needs will be built in Gloucester.

Gloucestershire County Council signed off the spending, which will go towards a new school for 200 children with learning difficulties, aged four to 16.

The school will be built on council-owned land at Wheatridge East, Gloucester, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

The council said it will improve the experience of pupils while saving it money on out-of-county placements.

Currently, these can cost the council as much as £50,000 a year, where students cannot be taught closer to home in schools which meet their needs.

"This school has been warmly welcomed by the heads of the local primary schools in Abbeydale, Abbeymead and Upton who will be this school's new neighbours," said education cabinet councillor Philip Robinson.

"By building this school we can accommodate 200 children closer to their homes.

"That's an important aspect - if a child is an out of county, independent setting, very often that involves residential accommodation during the week," he said.

There has been an increase in demand for special needs places in the county recently.

Last year, 80 places were delivered at Brook Academy, while over £1m is being spent transforming a former mainstream primary school in Stroud into a special school, Sladewood Academy.

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